20-Year-Old Boy Dies Of Heart Attack After Dancing To Gangnam Style

A young man suffered a heart attack and died after dancing to Gangnam Style at a Christmas party, an inquest has heard.

Lee Whitehead, 20, collapsed on the floor of the pub but friends initially thought he was doing another dance move.

Lee, from Hull, East Yorkshire, was suffering from a rare undiagnosed heart condition which was described as like a 'ticking time bomb'.

Paramedics were called and shocked his heart three times but he could not be saved and he was pronounced dead just half an hour later.

He had been at a festive party at the Half Moon pub, in Hull, on December 21 last year, when he collapsed, the inquest heard.

His mother Lisa said she took comfort from knowing he died while having fun, dancing to one of his favourite songs.

Lisa, 41, said: 'He was always making people laugh and had so many friends.

'Lee just loved life and was very funny, he even dressed up as a woman once to entertain people. He loved to mess about but he was also very helpful and a hard worker.'

Doctors only discovered after his death that he was suffering from cardiomyopathy.

School friend Emma Brown, who was dancing alongside him when he collapsed, said she initially thought he was 'play acting'.

Emma added: 'I'd known him since school in Market Weighton and just thought he was doing some kind of dance move on the floor.

'Then I realised he wasn't moving and there was blood on his nose. That's when I knew something was seriously wrong. I used my handbag for a head support and people were helping him while they waited for the ambulance to arrive.'

Lee's father was met by police and paramedics when he arrived at the pub and saw his son lying on the floor.

'I had a few moments with him before he was moved,' said Richard. 'Lee was a loud and lovely lad who enjoyed partying. He will be missed by so many people.'

Police Constable Stephen Atkinson said there were no suspicious circumstances and, although Lee had a low level of alcohol in his system, toxicology results showed it had not contributed to his death.

Doctors could not determine the cause of death until they discovered he had an unusually enlarged heart, which was sent to experts in Sheffield for further tests.

Dr Laszlo Karsai, consultant histopathologist, said it was an 'extremely rare case' and the heart muscle disease had not been detected before Lee died.

He added: 'Lee was a ticking time bomb. It could have happened at any time and physical activity like dancing could have provoked the sudden cardiac arrest.'

Lee was a devoted godfather to one-year-old Mia Allinson, his friend Shannon's daughter and worked with his father as a production operative at a trailer factory.